DORKING WANDERERS v KINGSTONIAN

Meadowbank

Pre-season friendly

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Ground No 215

THE majestic spire of St Martin's Church that peers over Meadowbank from behind the main stand like a proud parent watching over its offspring could tell some stories.

Not all of them would be an easy listen, mind.

It could tell of a great FA Vase run in the early Noughties and the time Dorking - who had called it home since 1956 - gave Peter Shilton's Plymouth Argyle a run for their money in the first round of the FA Cup in the early 90s.

But it could also tell of how Dorking merged with Guildford City then folded before rising from the ashes as a new club and then finally disappearing into the cupboard marked 'former football clubs' in 2017.

And it could tell of how Meadowbank, wonderfully situated just behind one of the most idyllic high streets you'll find anywhere, fell into seemingly terminal disrepair - its crumbling terraces and rundown stand deemed unsafe in 2013.

Thankfully, though, the story doesn't end there and the spire could tell how the developers moved in, not to put up trendy apartments or affordable housing but to transform Meadowbank into an £8 million stadium fit for the 21st century that's also home to Surrey FA and a soft play area that the local council seem particularly excited about.

Reopened in July 2018, it's now home to serial promotion winners Dorking Wanderers,

A true non-league fairytale club, in the 20 short years since their formation, they have risen from the Crawley and District League to National League South - thanks to hard work and dedication rather than a millionaire owner/chairman hell bent on buying their way through the leagues.

"My dad and I got there half way through the first half and we were the 14th and 15th paying customers on the day with an audience of just 15," recalls programme editor Hugo Manuel in today's column.

That occasion was just five years ago. That's how far Dorking Wanderers have come in such a short space of time.

And their home is a joy to visit.

A new build (on an old footprint) it may be, but Meadowbank still has a certain charm about it - thanks in no small part to its wooden perimeter fence, wooden tea hut (nice cuppa for £1.20) and the traditional look of the main stand… plus of course than grand old spire rising in its shadow.

There's hard tarmac standing all around, a 3G pitch (so no worries about potential rain-offs), small covered standing areas at one end and on one side of the main stand and a bar area on the other side of the stand in the modern box-shape building that also houses Surrey FA's HQ and the changing rooms.

Chairman/manager Marc White is clearly delighted at the club's progress and in a tantalising glimpse of what Meadowbank's future may hold, he told Surrey Live last year: "There's a lot of space to add additional buildings."

He's not wrong there, and you suspect that grand old spire could well have more stories to tell in years to come.